Although useable in any aircraft, the present invention and the problem on which it is based are explained in more detail with reference to an aeroplane.
Most aeroplanes have one or more landing flaps attached to their wings. A landing flap has a retracted position in which it is stowed away under the wing and an extended position in which it is bent down into the air flow to produce extra lift on the aeroplane. The flap is rotated between the retracted position and the extended position around a rotation axis which runs substantially parallel to the trailing edge of the wing. Generally the rotation axis is defined by a number of bearings articularly connecting the flap to the wing. The bearings are usually arranged in fairings underneath the wing. Due to aerodynamic loads and other forces acting laterally, i.e. substantially away from or towards the fuselage of the aeroplane, on the flap, commonly one of the bearings is configured to be a locating bearing, whereas the other bearings are configured to be non-locating bearings. The locating bearing prevents a movement of the flap relative to the wing in the lateral direction.
Such a locating bearing needs to take up high bending moments. Therefore, it has to be sized comparatively large which also causes its fairing to be comparatively large in the lateral direction of the wing. This increases the aerodynamic drag on the aeroplane. This in turn has a number of negative effects such as e.g. an increased fuel consumption of the aeroplane.